Two years ago, the maiden Where’s My Ring won the Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes, earning a start in the Kentucky Oaks where she finished 10th.
Next Saturday, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. will attempt to win the Grade 3 Gazelle with the maiden Slow Kara, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro out of the multiple graded stakes winner Terra Promessa, who has a fourth and a second in two starts going a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Bravaro, coming off a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes, will be equipped with blinkers when he runs in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
Bravaro won his first two starts against New York-breds, then came off a layoff to finish second to Nearly in the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Jan. 31. In the Fountain of Youth, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. felt Bravaro was making a move at the three-furlong pole before flattening out. He finished 11 lengths behind Commandment.
Trainer Paddy Gallagher has been fined $2,500 by Santa Anita stewards for violations of two rules related to veterinary examinations involving a 2-year-old who sustained an injury in a workout in December 2024 and was later euthanized.
Juan Hernandez and Antonio Fresu, second and fifth in the jockey standings at Santa Anita through Thursday, will ride briefly at Keeneland next month.
Last spring, Hernandez won two races from nine mounts at Keeneland during a week Santa Anita did not conduct racing.
“We went last year and we did pretty good,” Hernandez said recently. “We’re trying to ride a couple of horses a day.
“It’s good racing and good horses and good competition. Hopefully I can get some decent mounts.”
May Day Ready, a three-time stakes winner and millionaire, is in training with Richard Mandella at Santa Anita with the goal of resuming her career later this spring.
On Friday at Santa Anita, May Day Ready worked a half-mile on the infield training track in 47.60 seconds, her fourth workout since late February.
“She’s five or six weeks from a race,” Mandella said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – On March 17, two and a half weeks prior to the opening of Keeneland’s spring meet, workers were still scrambling to put the finishing touches on the track’s most ambitious renovation in its 90-year history.
But even without the work being fully complete, it’s clear Keeneland has hit it out of the park.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Southern California-based trainer Bob Baffert said he plans to have a division of horses at Oaklawn Park next season. The meet traditionally runs from December to the first weekend in May.
“We’re going to be there,” Baffert said Wednesday.
Baffert said his base will continue to be Southern California, but he is moving a division to Churchill Downs. With an operation already in the middle of the country, he will set up a stable at Oaklawn.
It’s been a busy offseason at Monmouth Park, even if little of the commotion has to do with racing.
The New Jersey seaside track is one of two potential candidates for a casino license if supporters succeed in adding a referendum to this year’s November ballot authorizing casinos at Monmouth and The Meadowlands. This has required track officials to be in constant contact with state legislators and government officials.
Jockey Jose Valdivia, who has not ridden since late December, is planning a late spring comeback after recently undergoing two shoulder surgeries.
Valdivia, 51, said in a recent interview that the second surgery, involving a bone graft, has stabilized his left shoulder and improved his mobility. Valdivia said he is undergoing physical therapy twice a week and is hoping to receive doctor’s clearance in April for more vigorous physical activity.
“Every day is better and better,” he said.
The seven-figure yearlings Cherokee Nation and Potente are scheduled to represent Bob Baffert in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4, two leading chances to give the Hall of Famer a 10th win in California’s leading prep race for the Triple Crown.
On Thursday, both horses had workouts at Santa Anita. Potente, the undefeated winner of the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 7 in his stakes debut, worked five furlongs in 59.20 seconds. Potente, bought for $2.4 million as a yearling at Saratoga, won his first start in a maiden race at six furlongs on Jan. 31.
